1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to event scheduling and management using electronic networks, and, more specifically, to providing automated scheduling and notification of investor relations events using electronic networks.
2. Background
Organizations that rely on financing through publicly traded securities benefit from timely and accurate dissemination to members of the investment community who follow its stocks and securities of new information potentially affecting their financial position, and, consequently, the market valuation for their securities. Publicly-held corporations, for example, are required to periodically report certain information regarding financial condition in compliance with financial disclosure and reporting requirements imposed by federal law, including applicable securities regulations. Securities analysts must factor into consideration the latest financial information from a corporation in order to produce a market price prediction over time for the corporation""s stock or security. This market price prediction is useful and valuable to the analysts"" clients. The economic value of an analysts"" security valuation prediction increases as the accuracy of the prediction increases. Further, the overall process of adjusting and reflecting the effect of material information in the price of a given security is also key to the efficient functioning of the capital markets in which the organization""s securities are traded.
However, this dissemination activity imposes a burden on the reporting organization""s resources. In the corporate context, for example, this burden may be borne by investor relations personnel, the chief financial officer, or other person, employee, or group. It would therefore be advantageous to provide a system and method that automatically manages the dissemination of investor information, thereby reducing the resource burden on the reporting organization.
Moreover, obtaining and verifying financial and related information from reporting organizations imposes a burden on the analyst. The analyst""s burden is compounded by the fact that any one particular analyst usually follows and monitors information released by several such reporting organizations. For example, one analyst may have to track and monitor the financial disclosures from each significant competitor in a given industry group, product category, or market segment in order to gauge the affects of competition on the market price of a followed security. Ideally, the analyst will attend meetings held by the reporting organization to directly obtain clarifying or explanatory information in the form of answers to questions posed to officers representing the organization. However, since quarterly financial reporting period end dates for many organizations coincide, this-goal is often difficult to achieve due to conflicting meeting schedules.
In general, the more analysts that follow an organization""s securities, the more the organization benefits in terms of the market price for its securities. Coverage by more analysts increases market awareness of the organization""s securities and thereby increases demand for them. It is thus in the best interests of the organization to actively manage the scheduling of investor relations events in order to avoid the occurrence of conflicting. events that could dilute analysts"" interest.
It is also in the best interests of the organization that the information provided to analysts and to the investing public is accurate and timely available. The rapid dissemination and-assimilation of new information underlies the efficient functioning of the financial markets.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method that determines and reports a set of scheduled investor relations events that are proximate in time to a proposed scheduled investor relations event, thereby making available to the person or organization proposing the new event information that is helpful to avoiding conflicts in the scheduling of new events.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system and method that supports reliable and timely dissemination of investor relations information and events.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a system and method that automatically notifies one or more interested persons or groups of new information concerning a particular organization. The new information may be that provided by the organization itself or by third parties. This information is disseminated in a timely and accurate manner.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide new information, including news or press release information, in a manner useful to the recipient.